As Sean Forman pointed out the other day, baseball gets much more PED scrutiny from the media than other sports. When Sports Illustrated broke the story about a new steroid ring linked to baseball, football, and other sports, baseball got the most coverage.

Since that time the NBA has had its own mini-scandal that hasn’t garnered much attention. Lindsey Hunter of the Detroit Pistons tested positive for using a banned substance found in diet pills, and received a 10-game suspension. Let’s compare this to John Rocker, who has been accused of taking HGH, and he hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2003.

3 Responses “A Double Standard?”

That’s striking but it may well be that MLB gets more coverage of PED related issues simply because it’s a bigger problem due to the nature of the sport…i.e. they aid performance to a greater degree. Rocker is infamous for things besides pitching and PEDs too. Speaking of which we should also consider the qualitative aspects of the coverage. The majority of indepth stories about the NBA strike me as neutral to negative in tone. There’s this constant undercurrent of questioning whether NBA players deserve their financial success while it’s taken for granted or even extolled in baseball coverage. Just one man’s opinion — and a minority one at that, I know.

Basketball and football players are already at extreme ends of the growth curve. Baseball is a sport that can be played by anyone regardless of size (to a first approximation). People might see PEDs as putting baseball out of reach.